Archive for March 19th, 2012

Mike Daisey could have performed a monologue about going to Taiwan to visit the Wolfconn factory where they make the Orange ePhone. He could have played a character not named Mike Daisey, or he could have presented his story as “inspired by real events” rather than as some new form of investigative theater. The artistic value of the piece would have been the same, though it may have received less attention. But instead, Daisey put himself in the story, he made up stuff about China and Apple and Foxconn, and then, offstage, he told everyone it was objectively true.

[This story continues to make my blood boil. It doesn’t seem like much of the media understands how destructive this is to them. CBS gave the whole thing a big pass Sunday morning.]

Many in the media had written off Jeremy Lin after the Knicks hit the skid that ended with Mike D’Antoni’s resignation as head coach. But Jeremy has participated in the Knicks’ three straight wins since then, as a starter. I listened to the fourth quarter of this game, and he was the Main Man down the stretch, grabbing rebounds, getting steals, distributing the ball, drawing fouls, and hitting four straight free throws without a miss.

Not many people have visited the possibility that Jeremy Lin went undrafted because he wasn’t this good then. He got this good by playing against better competition, and learning every step of the way.

[And it continues to point out, that talent is not about how good you can get, but how quickly you get there. No reason not to just strap it on and get to work. Further, you’ll be more insightful (in my experience) about how “good” works. In many ways, it can be a better road…]

At this point, it’s hard to determine what’s more outrageous,
Daisey’s lies to Ira Glass and his team, or the national media’s
willingness to give Daisey a platform to repeat the same lies and
fabrications without making the slightest effort to vet them.